Men’s fashion week has recently begun and as I trawled through the photos from various shows so far I noticed that outerwear for men was making a huge statement- from big bold prints to oversized bomber jackets.

One big trend came from Etro; with the whole collection boasting lots of Japanese influences that included Obi belts wrapped around suit jackets and waistcoats. Not only this but the Italian fashion house also gave us a belted robe, almost similar to the traditional smoking jacket, but with a Navajo style print in luxuriously thick material. If this newer combination isn’t quite your style then those of us with a more classic style can refer to D&G, who also failed to disappoint, offering a silky, embroidered version that gave us matching suit style trousers!

I don’t think there will ever be an Elie Saab collection that I won’t be entirely captivated by, whether it be Couture or Ready-to-Wear. Every single show is full of beautiful, intricate detailing, and it is refreshing to see that the designer focuses on what he does best every season, rather than being too trend focussed.

Their AW14/15 Couture show may be arguably everything you’d expect from Elie Saab, but it nevertheless impresses me every single time. The show was obviously full of fairytale inspired gowns that consisted of light, sheer materials, silk and tulle, the majority of which was beautifully encrusted with pearls and crystals and somewhat inspired by the mystery of the ocean (seen in the lace black gowns and pearl encrusted deep bluedresses) and even an enchanted forest (in one instance a moss green was offset against colourful crystals and pearls). Whilst keeping to his usual pretty, romantic roots the designer used a rainbow of colours in his tone-on-tone approach to his underlays and embellishments to create a soft, natural and feminine collection.

And of course, the latest show cannot be spoken about without the mention of the beautiful finale wedding gown, although so many of the white, silver and cream gowns displayed were enough for any bride-to-be- or any woman for that matter- to swoon over!

You can view the full pictures from the show here or watch it in full here !

I love the fit of this dress from River Island, its kind of like an over sized T-shirt dress, but with a bit more of a body con fit, and I especially love that it is an amazing dupe of the Celine brush stroke print! I teamed it with bare legs and my Celine inspired slip on skater shoes, but I it looks just as good with tights (I tucked some in my handbag just in case it rained, which it did.) The dress is so versatile, I wore it casually today for a shopping trip, but it could be dressed up so easily with a pair of strappy sandals! The jacket is a bargain buy from Ebay, I’ve done a lot of purchasing on there lately (as well as on Vinted) and I’ll hopefully have a blog up soon of what I got my hands on!

Now, I’m all for the funny and quirky slogans emblazoned across tees and sweatshirts, but recently I’ve been loving the more motivational, thought provoking messages, too. Not only are they a little more sophisticated than the usual phrases we’re seeing (although I love these, as well) but I love how versatile they are dressed up or dressed more casually.

Here are a few of my faves 🙂

I’ve recently discovered the streetwear brand ‘Acrylick’– literally all of their items have a motivational meaning or slogan and I love that! My favourite is ‘Only dead fish swim with the current’- okay it is for men (they have a women’s collection, too) but in a small size I think this would look great on us girls too!I LOVE the message here- it comes from Pharrell Williams’ collab with Uniqlo ‘i am OTHER‘, where he encourages innovation amongst today’s youth!Okay, we all know I love to talk about Kenzo– here they are promoting the protection of the world’s ocean in a collab with The Blue Marine Foundation! Such a great way to influence their young fashion following!

Good news! Judging by the most recent show from Dior (pre SS15), the things we buy for this Spring/Summer will be just as on trend next year, too, which is great for both my bank balance and the lack of wardrobe space I seem to have year on year..

Here are a few pieces from the collection we can take inspiration from:

Dark colours may not be an obvious choice, but we saw it for this Spring from Lanvin, and now Dior have set the standard for darks for SS15, too!Summer brights, like orange and yellow, were seen on the runway again at this Dior show, but what’s great is orange is also set to be huge through AW14, too! That’s a possible 3 seasons use of the trend!Mixing of prints looks as if it’ll still be big next Spring/Summer, too!A hint of the art inspired trend.Recognise the mesh detailing we’ve seen this year from the Sports Luxe trend?

And what’s new?

Florals are a given, but Dior gave us a more grown up floral to look forward to- oversized and art inspired!A new boho skirt shape could be round the corner!

As the latest inspiration for the Met Gala I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at the designs of Charles James, the ‘First American Couturier’. Known for his somewhat hefty dresses (his heaviest dress was 18 pounds) that emphasised a women’s figure, the designer favoured the use of silk, organza and velvet and championed many newer styles, like the strapless dress, Pavlovian Waistband and the Figure Eight skirt, as well as inspiring the New Look that is most often associated with Christian Dior. The designer reworked all of his original designs and is most known for his ball gowns, quilted jackets and fur/embroidery trimmed capes and coats.

So,with all of this said it is pretty clear what kinds of designs we can expect the fashion elite to be wearing at tonight’s Gala- I’m thinking lots of Old Hollywood Glamour, from full skirts to figure hugging dresses!

From ice cream shades to vibrant hues I absolutely loved the use of color in this collection, which showcased abstract shapes, block color and candy stripes. We also saw metallic details and sequins, which made for a glamorous edge.

Kahlo

With clean silhouettes and a heavy focus upon metallics and soft, luxe leather we saw a much more masculine vibe from this collection. Sports luxe was a strong theme (think structured leather crops, brogues and tennis style dresses), but my favorite part of the collection has to be the clean cut metallic coats that hung over the shoulders of the models.

Aurelio Costarella

From waist cinching belts, feathers and heavy embellishment this collection showcased pretty, feminine and glamorous pieces, from sheer gowns to brightly colored mini dresses and playsuits. Not only this, but the collection showed us that we can in fact be ‘matchy matchy’ from head to toe and it will look good (something I’ve always been a bit dubious about).

From Celine’s abstract brush strokes, a rainbow palette at Chanel and colourful female portraits adorning handbags and dresses at Prada, there is no doubt about it that art inspired pieces are set to be a huge trend this Spring. The issue with such statement, artistic pieces is that it makes it difficult for the high street to imitate effectively-they might be a much cheaper option, but its not the same high quality and innovative designs as those Prada handbags. At those designer prices, though, I think I’ll have no choice but to admire them from a distance, whilst keeping my eyes well peeled for high quality dupes. The key thing to remember when going high street for this trend is to ensure you buy items that at least look high quality, because wearing artistic designs, like those on the runway, is all about luxury.

So, I was lucky enough to get away to Dublin at the beginning of March, but this obviously meant I had less time (and less wifi access) to blog about the goings on at Paris Fashion Week! So, what did I miss?

1. Kenzo grew up.

Gone were the statement sweatshirts and logo emblazoned attire-although they kept their youthful edge via bold prints and bright colours, this season Kenzo brought us a tougher edge in the form of oversized shapes and strong tailoring.

2. Phoebe Philo gave us even more coats to lust after.

I’m still not over that pink coat, but the the most recent show from Celine gave us even more coats to desire, and this time we saw so much assortment I’m not even sure I can pick a favorite. The question is which one will bring me most inspiration for next AW? Will it be the camel coat? The double breasted button up? Or maybe the more boyish, oversized kind?

3. Chloe remained pretty, as ever.

With nudes, soft pastel hues and the odd pop of bright colour towards the end of the collection, the pallete at the most recent Chloe show did wonders to produce a whimsical, feminine collection. With simple shapes and feminine lines (and gold hardware thrown in for good measure, of course) the Chloe collection was what I imagine every Chloe collection to be -ultra feminine, flirtatious and youthful. We saw beautifully draped blush pink coats, silky, layered slip dresses, chunky knits, and, not forgetting, the appearance of soft culotte pants that seemed to look amazing with absolutely everything. I’ll just take one of everything, please..

4. I will always love Elie Saab.

Always giving us beautiful, elegant collections, I just can’t get enough of the amazing gowns (and everything else, actually) that the designers behind this collection manage to produce. The colours this season (think warming berry tones, blush pink and teal), bold floral print, embroidered detail and glamorous furs all made for a rich and luxurious collection!

5. Grocery shopping- Chanel style

I’m sure we all know about this- Karl Lagerfeld turning the Grand Palais into one big Chanel supermarket. We saw sugary sweet tweed suits, metallic jeans, lace up flat boots and some amazing arm candy- but although I loved some of the looks on show, not all of it was that inspiring, even with the super cool supermarket layout.

We have seen many designers over fashion week change the direction of their brand’s usual aesthetic, but Ferretti has done this the best so far. The usual Ferretti collection would be romantic, light and airy, but at MFW yesterday the collection took a darker turn that led to a luxurious, almost couture, runway show. Inspired by an ‘animated forest’ the collection was full of rich textures, prints and colours to give an enchanting, ethereal feel. With simple and natural silhouettes, the collection’s many textures spoke volumes- we saw feather lined hems, fur lined collars and bark like textures that were created through the layering of felt, silk and chiffon across the whole collection, where even sandals were adorned with soft feathers. This, mixed with the luxurious hand painted prints, intricate embroidery, mossy green shades and dark metallic hues, gave us an inspirational collection that reaches to a wide audience. From fluffy green jumpers, gorgeous ethereal gowns and the clever vine like sandal straps that twisted around the ankles of models, Ferretti managed to outdo herself with this collection, thinking outside the box to create a wearable, but couture inspired, collection.